This invention relates to a control apparatus for an arrangement in which an electrical generator is driven by an internal combustion engine. More particularly but not exclusively, it relates to a control apparatus for a vehicle such as automobile or a boat which can prevent failure of an electrical control system for the vehicle when an engine of the vehicle is operating at a low speed.
Automobiles, boats, and other types of vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine are frequently equipped with a wide variety of electrically-powered actuators, such as windshield wipers, fuel pumps, head lights, and ignition coils. Furthermore, modern vehicles commonly have an electronic control unit for controlling the engine. When the engine of such a vehicle is rotating above a certain speed, the electrical power for the actuators and the control unit is provided by an electrical generator driven by the engine. However, when the engine is running at a low rotational speed, such as when an automobile is idling or a boat is trolling, the output of the generator may be insufficient to power all the actuators, so at this time power is drawn from a storage battery of the vehicle. If the engine is run at a low rotational speed for a long period, the charge on the battery will gradually decrease, and the charge may fall to a level at which the battery can no longer supply sufficient current to the actuators or the control unit. As a result, they may malfunction and cause the engine of the vehicle to stop.